Holidays
by libbyQuin
Summary: Seven short snapshots of the BAU members' favourite holidays.
1. January Rossi

**A/N: This is what I'm doing when I should be writing my main fic, 'Family Portraits'. You should check it out. Go ooooon...  
See my plug? Shameless, wasn't it??  
I own nothing! Nooooothing! :(  
Part one of seven. Most of which will be a bit longer than this.**

**

* * *

**

January. Rossi.

Rossi watched Prentiss snaking her way back from the bar, drinks in hand. The team needed to have full glasses for the upcoming toast. He looked around at them as they prepared for the imminent countdown.

There was Hotch, looking much more relaxed than normal, accepting his wine with a rare smile. Morgan, always happiest in a party environment, raising his beer to every pretty girl who passed the table. JJ, unwinding from the daily stress of being a mother and liaison, sipping her RTD while letting the conversation wash over her. Reid, probably more intoxicated than he's ever been, trying not to continually wince at the kick of the rum in his Coke. Prentiss, currently the main source of conversation, telling a story between shots of vodka. And Garcia, dressed in her brightest party clothes, twirling the umbrella in her cocktail and bobbing her head to the music.

Rossi sat watching his team, smiling at how, even after all they'd seen that year, they could still relax and laugh and have fun. He wondered if any of them had made resolutions, and what they were. He had never been one for resolutions – probably best demonstrated by his string of failed marriages – but something, maybe the alcohol in his blood, was pushing him to make one this time.

_I resolve to stay focused on what's really important. To not let my job control me. To spend more time having fun. To really make the most of the time I have._ He knew that the coming year would be just as tough as the previous one. He wanted to make sure that he could still just sit and smile by the end of it.

Rossi was snapped from his thoughts as the bar fell silent in anticipation. Every eye was trained on the clock. The countdown started, and Rossi joined in.

"…Three…two…one…happy New Year!"

**

* * *

**

A/N: I had no idea what kind of resolutions Rossi would make, so I came up with these lame little ones, which are probably pretty out of character. Oh well.  
Reviews are adored and cherished. I'm serious. Go on, make my day. Please?


	2. February Garcia

****

A/N: My fastest update ever. Waow. And in the time it took me to type this up, no miracles occured so no, I still don't own anything.  
Review if you're awesome. You can't resist that, can you??

* * *

**February. Garcia.**

Hearts. Flowers. Chocolate. Pink. All high on Penelope Garcia's list of favourite things. When they all came together in a joyous celebration of love, she was about as happy as it was possible to be.

The self-proclaimed Oracle of Quantico walked through the bullpen, dressed in pink from head to toe, with fake roses in her hair and a heart-shaped box of chocolates in her hand. She approached Reid's desk, grinning as she saw how hard at work he was.

"Hey, Junior G Man," she trilled. When he turned around to answer, she shoved a chocolate into his open mouth. She laughed as his shock turned to happiness while he chewed on the caramel she knew to be his favourite.

"They'd better not all be for Reid, mama," Morgan called out, pointing at Garcia's chocolates.

"Oh, don't you worry, my treasure," she replied, bouncing over to his desk and dropping a chocolate into his waiting hand. She placed another on Prentiss' vacant desk, ready for when she got back from the kitchenette, then Garcia turned away in the direction of JJ's office. But before she could share the love with the media liaison, her path was blocked by a stern-faced Hotch. She didn't even blink.

"Surely you can't object to a bit of love!" she said, forcing a chocolate into Hotch's hand. He was still for a moment, then he smiled slightly and stood aside.

Rossi had stuck his head out of his office, no doubt wondering what all the fuss was about. Garcia twirled over to him.

"Don't worry, Sir, I didn't forget you!" she laughed as she held out a chocolate for the senior profiler.

Rossi took the proffered sweet and watched as Garcia stuck her head – and a final chocolate – into JJ's office with a look of confusion on his face.

Garcia bounced back to her office, which had been decorated with pink paper hearts for the occasion. Before she shut the door, she waved and shouted to the bullpen in general,

"Happy Valentines Day!"


	3. April Morgan

**A/N: I know I should be working on my main story, but this is important too, right? Please review!!**

**

* * *

**

April. Morgan.

Morgan got up from his desk quickly, pulling a container from the bag under his desk as he did so. He made his way swiftly over to the kitchenette, which was empty due to the fact that it was still early. Morgan glanced around surreptitiously before grabbing the sugar container. He worked quickly, well aware that at any moment someone could walk in and ruin everything.

Morgan finished screwing the lid back on the sugar container just as he heard footsteps approaching. He quickly grabbed a mug and switched on the coffee machine to cover his tracks. Then he grinned as he realised who it was coming for the first coffee of the morning. The BAU's most prominent sugar addict – perfect.

Reid mumbled in response to Morgan's chirpy greeting. As usual, the genius wasn't his proper self until he'd had an unbelievable amount of caffeine. Morgan watched with rising anticipation as the coffee maker beeped and Reid poured out his coffee and milk. Morgan had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing as Reid added his legendary quarter-cup of sugar. He couldn't have picked a better target.

Reid, who was obviously gasping for his caffeine fix, didn't even wait to get back to his desk. He leaned against the bench and took a long sip of his coffee. Morgan watched with glee as his expression changed from content to disgust. He spat his mouthful of coffee into the sink, and Morgan cracked up.

"That's _disgusting!_" gasped Reid. "It tastes like seawater!"

He looked over at Morgan, who was practically bent double with laughter. Then he grabbed the sugar container and examined its contents. His eyes narrowed.

"Salt," he hissed, looking accusingly at Morgan. Still unable to speak, Morgan simply pointed to the calendar hanging in the corner. Reid stared at it. His eyes widened in comprehension. He rushed out to the bullpen to warn everyone. He was too late.

Prentiss pulled open her desk drawer and yelled as it contents fell to the floor. She quickly realised that it had been put in upside down and turned angrily towards Morgan's desk. When she saw that it was empty, she looked towards the kitchenette. She saw Reid point accusingly at Morgan. He was laughing even harder now, but he managed to choke out two words before Hotch came out of his office and demanded an explanation.

"April Fools!"


	4. April Prentiss

**A/N: I'm not very happy with this part. But it was the best I could do. Prentiss is kinda inscrutable, I think. But she did say that she loved chocolate in 'No Way Out', which is when Reid talked about choc and peas. Hehe. I promise that the next part is better. :D  
I think Prentiss is kinda out of character here, but I'll just blame it on the chocolate, okay? :P  
Still don't own anything. Boohoo.  
Please review! And if you feel so inclined, check out my other CM story, 'Family Portrait'. That'd be neato. :D**

**

* * *

**

April. Prentiss.

Prentiss grinned as she finished sucking the innards out of a Crème egg. She shoved the whole miniature egg into her mouth and chewed blissfully, savouring the chocolate. She surveyed her stash, her eye passing over the bright foil wrappers which concealed the rich, dark, alluring, gooey goodness. She normally kept her chocolate intake to a minimum, for the sake of her health and fitness, but once a year she let herself go crazy – in the holiday spirit. She knew that today was supposed to be all about Jesus, but she hadn't been brought up Christian. So she basked in the commercialised glow of her favourite holiday.

Prentiss turned her stereo on and grinned when she recognised the opening notes of her favourite song. She picked up another chocolate, this time a bunny figurine, and before she realised what was happening, she was dancing around her apartment, waving a headless brown bunny in the air. She checked herself when she caught sight of the mirror. She looked _ridiculous!_ She laughed aloud, startling her cat, who had been asleep on the couch.

"Sorry, Hazel," Prentiss giggled. What was it about this particular holiday that made her so silly? _The chocolate obviously!_ She laughed again as she remembered Reid's explanation of why chocolate made people feel so good, and how peas supposedly had the same effect.

"But chocolate's much nicer than peas, huh, Hazel?" she asked her tabby, who meowed in response. "I suppose you want some?"

She walked over to her stash, pulling a small bag out from amongst the miniature eggs and bunnies.

"Don't worry, honey, I didn't forget you," she said as she dropped a few of the special cat chocolate drops at her feet. "There you go!"

Hazel meowed again, obviously in gratitude.

"You're welcome. Happy Easter!"


	5. October Reid

****

A/N: Another relatively fast update! Woohoo! That's because of your reviews, you know. So go on! Review, review, review!!  
And, if you feel so inclined, check out my other story, 'Family Portrait'. I updated it just now, so I feel as if a little shameless self-promotion is in order. I have had some shining reviews on it, so...yeah. Check it out. Go oooooon.  
This one was easy. I mean, Reid told us, didn't he?

* * *

**October. Reid.**

Reid turned the book's pages quickly, making it look as though he was barely even skim reading the words. Within a few minutes, the book was placed on the floor, read through from beginning to end. In the dim lamplight, the title of the book could just be made out – _It_, by Stephen King.

Reid picked up a handful of candy from the large bowl on the table beside his armchair before grabbing another book from the top of his large pile. It was another Stephen King, this time a book of short stories. Reid absorbed its contents while chewing on milk bottles and Jersey caramels.

It was one of his favourite days of the year. The one day when he could sit in the semi-darkness, eating candy and reading horror stories by the light of his side-table lamp without looking crazy. He loved the fact that it was the only day of the year when people could become who – or what – ever they wanted to be by putting on a mask and costume. And of course there was the more academic side of it. Reid loved the history of this day; he was fascinated by the fact that so many cultures and civilisations had celebrated this festival, from the Celtic Samhain, to the Christian All Saints' Eve, to the Mexican Day of the Dead.

Reid was embroiled in the final chapters of _Carrie_ when the ringing of the telephone made him jump. His elbow jerked, knocking over his pile of books, and they in turn knocked the lamp to the floor, causing it to die. Reid gasped as his apartment was plunged into darkness. As childish and stupid as it was, he was _still_ terrified of the dark.

He groped around nervously for the torch he had placed next to his candy bowl in case of darkness. Finally he found it and switched it on, realising as he did so that the phone was still ringing. He picked it up nervously.

"Hello?'

"Reid! What's the matter with you? Don't you know what to do with a ringing phone?" Reid smiled as he recognised Garcia's voice. "You had me worried that you'd been kidnapped by some of those spooky spirits you said are waltzing around tonight!"

Reid laughed as he realised that Garcia had taken his lecture on the Celtic beliefs of spirits returning to earth to heart. Then he stopped as he remembered why he had taken so long to answer the phone in the first place.

"Garcia. You do know that I was sitting here, alone, in the dark, reading horror novels, right?" he asked.

"Yup. Your yearly ritual, right?"

"Yeah. Well, you gave me a hell of a fright."

Garcia laughed. "Isn't that the point?"

"I like my frights to come in moderated, controlled doses, thanks Garcia." Reid said, smiling.

"I'm always happy to make things more interesting," she replied, laughing. "Happy Halloween!"

**

* * *

**

A/N: I love milk bottles and Jersey caramels and Stephen King, but I've never done this. :P  
Review!


	6. November JJ

**A/N: I guess this is kind of baby-fluff...which I've never really tried before. Eep. Nervous now. You guys had better review and tell me what you thought. Make it my Christmas present. Speaking of Christmas...we've got one team member and one major holiday left. Oooh! Hehe.  
But would anyone be interested in like an epilogue? Cuz I kinda don't want to end this story, although it would be a weight of my chest to click 'complete'. I've really enjoyed writing this (I finished part 7 this morning). But if anyone's interested, I could do a whole-team epilogue to round of. Let me know.**

**

* * *

**

November. JJ.

JJ spooned the mushy pumpkin baby food into Henry's mouth, opening and closing her own as she did so. Henry was being surprisingly co-operative, eagerly gulping every spoonful with only a small dribble going down his chin. JJ made a mental note to feed him more pumpkin.

JJ scraped the last of the baby food from the jar and fed it to Henry, who was still eating it keenly. She made a show of looking in the jar for more, holding it up to her eye and then her ear, being silly to lessen the blow that there was no more pumpkin mush. She put the empty jar and plastic spoon on the tray of the highchair, then put her hands on her cheeks with her mouth wide open in exaggerated surprise. Henry copied her, his little hands on his podgy cheeks and his still-toothless mouth open in a perfect little 'o'. JJ laughed at her son's adorableness and Henry giggled.

Just then, the oven beeped and JJ had to get up and remove the relatively small roast turkey. For the next few minutes she whirled around the kitchen, preparing the rest of the meal. Then she laid the food lovingly out on the table, nodding approvingly at the finished product. She looked over at Henry, who was making a mess with the tiny amount of baby food that had been left at the bottom of the jar.

"Wow, Henry, look at you! What a mess! I'm sure I scraped the jar out more than that! Where did all the extra come from, huh? Look, it's in your hair and everything! And I only just gave you a bath to get you all clean for Daddy." JJ smiled at Henry to show him that she wasn't in the least bit mad. "Never mind, I know for a fact that Daddy looooves pumpkin." Henry gurgled happily as JJ mopped up the mess with his bib.

JJ had managed to get Henry looking reasonably clean when she heard the front door open. She turned to see Will enter the dining room. His eyes widened at the sight of the table, heavily laden with food.

"We're gonna be eating leftovers for a month," was the first thing he said.

"Well, hello to you too." JJ laughed. "I can't help it. I used my mother's recipes, and they're all for a large quantity. Where I come from, this dinner is a huge family affair."

Will chuckled. "That's okay. I love leftovers." He moved over to Henry's highchair and picked him up. "Hey, buddy. Woah, you taste like pumpkin!" he said as he kissed Henry's head.

"Oh, that was his dinner," said JJ as she came over to where Will was standing. "Apparently our boy loves pumpkin as much as you do."

"Well, it's that time of year, isn't it?" Will said to Henry. Both Will and JJ laughed as their son put his podgy little hand on his father's chin and gurgled as if in agreement.

"That's right, buddy. Happy Thanksgiving."

**

* * *

**

A/N: Okay, just so you all know, I'm not American so Thanksgiving is kind of all a mystery to me. This is probably so stereotyped and blah to you guys who are American. Oh well. JJ would be kind of traditionally boring when it comes to holidays, right? Review to let me know what you think!!


	7. December Hotch

**A/N: Well, this took longer than it should have. It's a bit late now...I meant it to kinda correspond with the actual holiday but that didn't work. Meh, everyone's busy around this time. Besides, it's longer than all the others, so that makes up for it, right?  
Uhm...I got no requests for an epilogue, so I won't write one. I can't be bothered anyway. Unless someone really begs and pleads, but even then I'm not promising. Because I'm lazy and nasty :P Haha.  
Because I live in little old New Zealand, I haven't see '100' yet. So Haley's not dead, okay? Just to clarify. :D****  
Not only do I not own CM, I also don't own _The Land Before Time._ Obviously.  
It's the last part. That's gotta merit a review, huh? Please?**

**

* * *

**

**December. Hotch.**

Hotch looked at the clock for the fourth time in as many minutes. Haley was due to arrive with Jack any minute, and he couldn't wait. He looked at the table, where Jack's wrapped present sat. He hadn't been sure of what to get his son. Haley had told him what Jack was currently into, and then the team had all given him different advice. Morgan had said that it had to be something practical that Jack could play with. Garcia had emphasized colourfulness. Reid had said that it had to be educational, and then had rattled off some statistics about the benefits of early learning for toddlers. Prentiss had simply said that it had to be big. JJ had recommended cuddly, and Rossi had said that it had to be able to last beyond New Year's. Hotch had thought that this was all good advice, and had ended up buying three presents to accommodate it all. He just hoped that Jack would be happy.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Hotch opened it to reveal a grinning Jack, all wrapped up against the cold, and Haley, carrying Jack's overnight bag. Jack hugged Hotch enthusiastically then Haley handed over his bag.

"I can't stay long," she said. "I've got to be at my sister's in ten minutes." She bent down and kissed Jack on the forehead. "Now you be a good boy for Daddy, okay?"

"Yes Mummy. I'll be very super good!" the toddler replied.

"Okay. Bye, honey. I'll see you on Sunday. I'll be around at about three to pick him up," she said to Hotch.

"That's fine. Thanks, Haley." he replied.

When Haley had gone, Jack rushed into the living room. When he got there, he surveyed the room. His face fell.

"Daddy! You haven't got any tree!" he said to Hotch.

"I know. But don't worry, buddy. I remember how much you used to love putting our tree up. So I thought that I could do it today, and you can help me." Hotch said. Jack clapped his hands and followed his father to the garage to fetch the artificial tree and the decorations.

For the next forty minutes, Hotch and Jack laughed and chatted as they assembled the tree and decorated it. When they'd put on all the decorations, Hotch lifted Jack up to put the star on the top.

After having an afternoon tea of Garcia's specially-made holiday cookies, Jack asked Hotch where his present was. Hotch took this to mean that he wanted to open it.

"Go look under the tree," he told his son. Jack ran to the living room and grinned as he caught sight of the large parcel that Hotch had placed there while Jack was eating.

"Can I open it now?" Jack asked.

"Well I can hardly say no, can I?" Hotch replied. Jack's wide smile was making him feel truly happy.

Jack eagerly ripped open the red and gold paper, revealing his three presents. His face lit up as he examined them. There was a factual picture book about dinosaurs with bright illustrations, a box of wooden dinosaur figures which could be fit together and stacked into a tower, and a large, bright green stegosaurus soft toy with yellow spots.

"Mummy told me how much you love dinosaurs," Hotch said, watching as Jack flicked through the book with a look of awe on his face. "She said you watch _The Land Before Time_ almost every day."

Jack looked up with a huge smile on his face. "I've got it in my bag!" he exclaimed. "I can show it to you and we can watch it together!"

"That sounds fantastic," Hotch replied, smiling. "I'll fetch it from your bag and we can-"

"No!" Jack cut in. "I'll go get it. There's something else I wanna do first…I forgotted…" He raced from the room. Hotch watched him with a look of confusion.

Jack returned swiftly, with a DVD in one hand and a wrapped parcel in the other.

"I forgotted your present!" he said, holding the parcel out. "But then I 'membered."

Hotch took the present and unwrapped it carefully. Jack watched him with eager eyes.

It was a silver picture frame, engraved with the words 'Father and Son' and the date. Hotch looked at it and felt a lump in his throat.

"You like it?" asked Jack.

"I love it, buddy. It's perfect." Hotch replied.

Jack grinned. "Mummy bought it, but _I_ picked it." he said proudly. "She said we can take a photo today and put it in and you can put it on your desk at work."

"We'll do exactly that," said Hotch. "But how about we watch your DVD first, huh?"

Jack nodded and handed Hotch the case. When he'd loaded the disk, they both sat together on the couch, Jack on Hotch's knee. As the menu appeared, Jack looked up at his father.

"I love you, Daddy," he said.

Hotch smiled.

"I love you too buddy. Merry Christmas."

**

* * *

**

A/N: Uh, Hotch out of character a bit? Oh well, who isn't around their kid? Sickly fluffy a bit? Meh, I couldn't help it. The end of this series? Yup. So...you should review. To say goodbye. :D Then you should check out my other story, because this is my last opportunity for a shameless plug so I'm making the most of it.  
Oh, and BTW...thanks for reading, and sticking it out till the end. Much appreciated. It's nice to know that someone cares what you're writing. Cheers people! :)


End file.
